salamanders

salamanders

With amphibian populations declining around the world and funds to find the causes scarce, a team of Penn State researchers has shown that an unorthodox tactic will make it easier and therefore less expensive to capture adult salamanders and frogs.

Researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are spearheading a four-year-old collaborative effort to assess the impact of a warming climate on the Eastern red-backed salamander, a creature that lives on or under the forest floor.

It's mid August here in central Pennsylvania, and the land is gripped by drought. But two miles north of Penn State's main campus, the forest is a tangle of verdant health. This is where biology graduate student Matt Laposata spends much of his summer hours. Today he's inspecting temporary homes for Jefferson salamanders.